One Bizarre Night
by The Civilised Savage
Summary: A continuation of The Two Mrs Crane's. Clive and Niles both reflect on, and have a conversation with each other about Daphne Moon.
1. Chapter 1

**One Bizarre Night**

A/N

I have read many Frasier fanfics here, and the various different ways Manchester is described never fails to amuse me, as I have lived just north of Manchester all my life (and no, we don't sound like Daphne Moon. Me and my friends joke "What part of Manchester is Daphne from, Leeds?" since her accent is closer to a Yorkshire accent than it is to ours). Anyway, Daphne will be from North Manchester since I'm familiar with the geography. All pubs and street names etc would be as accurate as possible, granted I wasn't even alive in the 1980s, and there's been a lot of redevelopment since then.

I know Wikipedia says Daphne's family had a fishing background, but I've got some of them working for the council. Manchester did have docks, but they were pretty much finished by the '70s, and they were more for shipping rather than fishing anyway.

**Disclaimer**

I own nothing to do with Frasier, except the freeview box and TV I use to watch the show on most mornings.

**Summary**

One Bizarre Night – a continuation of The Two Mrs Crane's. Clive and Niles have a conversation about Daphne Moon.

**Chapter 1**

Clive lay on the bed in his hotel room as he thought back on the nights events. It had been one bizarre night. He had been to see Daphne, the love of his life, at the place she worked, for a Dr Crane, some hot shot radio psychiatrist or something. Yet instead of the outcome he had hoped for, she had pretended to be married to the younger Crane brother, Niles. Dr Niles Crane. A wealthy psychiatrist from Seattle who wore fancy suits, ate gourmet food and drank fine wine and went to the opera. A man who also happened to be the complete opposite of Daphne's type.

In a way, it had been completely unbelievable from the start, and so Clive was bewildered as to how he'd been sucked into their little game. Daphne had always dated men like himself. Strong, tall men… Men who were nothing like Niles Crane at any rate.

He loved Daphne. He'd been devastated when she left and so he'd held onto her promise that in five years time they could give it another shot. He'd flown halfway across the world to Seattle to find her and she had lied to him. Her and those damn Crane's. They had all been in on it together.

The more he thought about it, the more the whole debacle puzzled him. Yes, Daphne had lied to him. But the way she and Niles interacted with each other seemed natural. They were very comfortable with the others presence, even though at first it had been slightly awkward. That was possibly why he'd been taken in by the whole thing. He sighed. Niles Crane puzzled him. Sure, the whole thing was an act, but the way he'd been acting towards Daphne appeared to be genuine. Add that to the way he had giggled when Daphne had introduced him as her husband, the way Frasier glared at him and his attempts to get close to Daphne, even though they were supposed to be married and how he'd attempted to keep Clive in the apartment all night, as if his happiness depended on it.

The way he looked at Daphne.

It was the same way that Clive himself had looked at her.

Could it be possible? Was Niles Crane in love with Daphne Moon? Yes, the night had all been a ruse, but the man couldn't possibly be that good an actor, could he?

There was one thing Clive was certain of. If Niles Crane truly was in love with Daphne, then Daphne herself had no idea.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Niles sat in his study as he thought back on the nights events. It had been one bizarre night. He had gone round to Frasier's to see Daphne, but tonight was different. An ex fiancé of Daphne's was coming to visit, and he had to go round and see what type of man he was. He promised himself he would not sabotage the other mans attempts to see if he had another chance with Daphne, he only wanted to observe, particularly as Daphne seemed to have no interest in another relationship with him. Yet it all went better than expected as to let Clive down easy, she panicked and had declared she was married to him. Well, pretended to be married to him and it was only for a few hours, but what a glorious few hours they had been.

After that, he had done everything he could to ensure Clive would stay, and since they were supposed to be newly-weds, and Niles had taken every opportunity to be affectionate towards Daphne to make their ruse look convincing. Well, that's what he told himself, but who was he trying to fool? Other than Clive, of course. He and Maris had been nowhere near as affectionate, as newly-weds or otherwise, but of course Maris was never one for public displays of affection. Or private ones for that matter.

Frasier, of course, nearly ruined his happiness. Trying to stop him from getting close to her as he usually did. But they were supposed to be married! Wouldn't it look odd for her brother-in-law to be preventing her husband from kissing her? But he supposed, in hindsight, that Frasier was only doing it for his benefit as Daphne had no idea how he really felt about her. It was all over too quickly for him anyway, as he'd been sitting close to her, holding her hand when Clive mentioned he now ran a business, and Daphne couldn't have dropped him quicker. Of course, Niles tried to keep the ruse going, but it all fell apart and Clive had left angry at them all for lying. Niles couldn't blame him really, but in a way it had been him who had kept Clive there, just so he could be close to Daphne. He felt he should explain himself to Clive, ensure there were no hard feelings between him and Daphne. Tomorrow, he'd attempt to find out where he was staying, and set the record straight. And with that final thought, Niles went off to bed.


End file.
